Prisoners: Police Custody

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were held in police cells in each police force area in each of the last five years; and at what estimated cost in each year.

David Hanson: Prisoners are either held in police cells under Operation Safeguard or as ad-hoc "lockouts".
	Operation Safeguard was used in 2006 and 2007. Table 1 shows the number of occasions on which prisoners have been held in police cells under Operation Safeguard in each police force area in England and Wales in 2006 and 2007. (One occasion is defined as one prisoner night spent in a police cell.)
	
		
			  Table 1: The number of occasions on which prisoners were held in police cells under Operation Safeguard 
			  Police force area  2006  2007 
			 Avon and Somerset 0 132 
			 Bedfordshire 0 389 
			 Cambridgeshire 212 1,157 
			 Cheshire 103 4,038 
			 Cleveland 0 4 
			 Cumbria 0 318 
			 Derbyshire 113 439 
			 Devon and Cornwall 38 1,803 
			 Dorset 71 355 
			 Durham 42 1,090 
			 Dyfed Powys 1 615 
			 Essex 1,009 3,963 
			 Gloucestershire 0 17 
			 Greater Manchester 15 2,800 
			 Gwent 0 839 
			 Hampshire 65 1,384 
			 Hertfordshire 40 1,170 
			 Humberside 0 84 
			 Kent 335 3,292 
			 Lancashire 0 1,636 
			 Leicestershire 0 2,689 
			 Lincolnshire 168 1,446 
			 Merseyside 196 165 
			 Metropolitan 333 9,799 
			 Norfolk 0 20 
			 North Wales 14 1,619 
			 North Yorkshire 0 39 
			 Northamptonshire 219 1,187 
			 Northumbria 0 1,113 
			 Nottinghamshire 0 184 
			 South Wales 81 1,254 
			 South Yorkshire 0 935 
			 Staffordshire 0 2 
			 Suffolk 83 1,085 
			 Surrey 0 107 
			 Sussex 338 258 
			 Thames Valley 433 2,627 
			 Warwickshire 93 1,086 
			 West Mercia 0 55 
			 West Midlands 570 6,237 
			 West Yorkshire 45 3,432 
			 Wiltshire 0 89 
		
	
	The police forces involved in Operation Safeguard charge NOMS for the cost of making cells available to accommodate prisoners. As invoices are received in arrears and may be subject to variable costs dependent upon individual prisoner and other circumstances, cost per year by force cannot be accurately calculated. However, the average estimated cost of holding a prisoner in a police cell under Operation Safeguard is currently in the region of £385 per night.
	Table 2 shows the total numbers of prisoners accommodated overnight in police cells as ad-hoc lockouts.
	Ad-hoc lockout data is not available for individual police forces and is approximate due to diverse recording methods.
	
		
			  Table 2: The number of prisoners held in police cells as ad-hoc lockouts 
			   Number 
			 2003 1,037 
			 2004 682 
			 2005 918 
			 2006 1,062 
			 2007 126 
		
	
	The agreed basic charge for ad-hoc lockouts is £55 per prisoner per night. Police forces may invoice additional charges to cover weekend and bank holidays, medical charges and the need for additional staff. The average cost is therefore estimated to be £120 per prisoner per night.